The Ritual of Second Life
by FrankyJ
Summary: Dumbledore had a plan for Harry. A last resort that Harry apparently didn't need. But with his luck the way it is Harry finds himself enacting a ritual that give him a second life, where everything manages to be just a little bit different than he's used to.
1. The Ritual of Second Life

Harry was tired. Not quite the bone deep tiredness he had felt after the war was finished nor the tired he felt after a long day. It was somewhere in between the two. In his hands he had a letter from Gringotts.

To Lord Harry Potter,

Your presence has been requested for the Inheritance Rite concerning one Aberforth "Abe" Reynolds Perdieus Odysseus Dumbledore. The Inheritance Rite has been enacted due to the previously named death on Tuesday, the 12th of March, 2030. Investigation has determined that the cause of death was Natural Causes and as such the Inheritance Rite will proceed without legal interference.

As an Inheritor you will need to be present at Gringotts on Saturday, the 16th of March, 2030 at 3:30 PM in order to claim any objects, titles, deeds, etc. that the deceased has left your or file a form of delayed absence…

Harry skimmed the rest of the letter as it dissolved into legal jargon. If he remembered correctly Abe was only a few years younger than Albus, and Albus was born in the early 1880s. Living close to almost 150 was very reasonable for a wizard. Some of course could live to almost 200 but it was very rare, and the current average expected lifespan ranged somewhere from 90 to 100 years old. Mostly though that was due to the recent wars in the '80s and '90s.

He felt for the death of his long time associate. While he never was very close to Abe he had more than once drank with the man after hours at the Hog's Head. Abe had a nice dose of straightforward skepticism that had helped many times in the very political minefield of the Wizengamot. While being Lord Potter came with a nice chunk of gold and a good plot of land he could due without the politicks. He was too straightforward, like Abe himself had been, for all the subtle maneuvering of the Wizengamot. More than once he was tempted to follow Abe's drunken suggestion of blasting the tongue off of a fellow Lord that tried to introduce some inane law.

The chiming of clock pulled him from his reminiscing. He groaned as he leaned forward in his chair to pen his acceptance of the invitation. He was getting old and he was only just going to turn fifty. Merlin help him, how did the Dumbledores feel when they were more than twice his age?

-o-

Harry hated these chairs they were never very comfy. Straight backed sold oak chairs with only a thin cushion to soften his seating. Gringotts goblins frowned deeply on 'wand waving' in their hallowed halls. And considering he was one of the only living beings to actually steal something from their bank, even if it was over thirty years ago, he doubted the guards would stop to ask questions before stabbing him a few times, if he tried to cast a cushioning charm. Two of the closest guards kept glaring at him and there were only four guards in the whole room. A dozen other wizards and yet he had half the guards pinning him with their eyes. He'd be smug if the seats weren't so damned uncomfortable.

"Regarding the ownership of Hog's Head Tavern," the goblin reading the will droned. Harry hadn't really been attention to the goblins name. It was probably something-nok or something-nuk. Tagnok? No that didn't sound right.

"...given to the closest living…"

Ragnuk? No not that either. Damn this chair. Harry frowned as he shifted position. One of the goblins staring at him smirked for less than half a second. Those little buggy bastards did it on purpose didn't they? Harry didn't know how they got the chair he just happened to be sitting in to be so uncomfortable but by Merlin he was going make some goblin's life difficult for it.

"...the contents of the vault being…"

Harry let his eyes droop as if he was falling asleep. He let his tight control over his magic eb slightly. Letting the magic wander over the chair.

"...do you accept the aforementioned items…"

He was distantly aware of someone standing up and in room and speaking. There were something like 8 rows of chairs with 5 chairs on each side of an aisle. The speaker was a younger woman towards the front probably Abe's closest living relative. But he didn't care much though as he found the rune making the seat so uncomfortable. It was positioned on the bottom of the cushion.

"...the next item is the…"

Now he just needed to use his magic to adjust the rune slightly slightly.

"...accept the aforementioned item…"

And perfect, one slightly changed rune goblins none the wiser and the pain in his rear end was leaving.

"LORD POTTER!"

"Huh?!" Harry exclaimed. "What was that? My hearing's not so good after the war…" Which was a bald faced lie. His hearing was just fine but he'd learned a while ago most people just tended to roll their eyes when he blamed not paying attention on war injures.

The goblin reading the Abe's will just gave him a very dry stare. "Do you accept the aforementioned items bequeathed upon you by Aberforth Dumbledore's will?"

"Yes, I accept." Harry stated. Normally he'd have been more concerned about what he was accepting but he doubted Abe would give him anything that could seriously blow up in his face.

"Moving on to the next item, to one Gregore Nott for years of service at Hog's Head…"

Harry sat back down and gave one of the goblins glaring at him a dry look. It was part disbelieving Snape, part disapproving McGonagall, and part confused Ron after someone refused food. He found it gave a stern but disbelieving tone that befuddled or guilted the party he directed it at quite well. In this case the guard just sneered at him. Merlin, can goblins hold a grudge.

"...so ends the bequeathment of Aberforth "Abe" Reynolds Perdieus Odysseus Dumbledore's estate. Please see one of the goblins by the exit for instructions on where to get your inherited items. I, Tarnuk Bloodfang executor of the deceased estate, call this Inheritance Rite to a close.

That's it! Tarnuk, I knew it was a -nuk. Harry slowly rose and made his way to the back of the room where the exit was. Well as much as he loved annoying random goblins with his presence he was starting to feel his stay was quickly becoming less than welcomed. Harry smiled as he approached a goblin at the back the only one that wasn't baring it's teeth at him.

"I'd like to get my inherited item if you wouldn't mind." Harry said mostly politely.

"Of course Lord Potter right this way," the goblin said as Harry followed him to a large box of objects. "Here it is Lord Potter. One..

-o-

Diary. Well a journal would probably be more accurate. A personal journal of wizarding rites and rituals as written by Albus Dumbledore with notes throughout the ages and addendums by Aberforth Dumbledore. It was probably worth more than a pretty knut or two. Any personal journal by Albus Dumbledore was probably worth a small fortune actually, especially on rites and rituals. While Dumbledore was most famous in the world of academia for his expertise in alchemy he was also very well known for his large understanding of wizarding rituals and rites. And no one had anything that came anywhere close to amount of details this book had.

Harry glared at the deceptively slim leather backed book and the two notes that had come from within it. His head hurt and the fire whiskey wasn't helping. The first note was from Abe, which simply stated:

Harry,

It is of the utmost importance that you read Albus's note that he had left to me and page 286 before performing any rite or ritual in this journal. I leave the rest to your judgement.

Abe

PS: Everything in this book has a cost, only knowing some of the cost is worse than knowing none of the cost.

That was interesting in and of itself but the real head scratcher was the second note.

Abe,

I am not long for this world. Currently, our world is on the verge of a darkness that has not plagued us in over a decade. I ask that you do everything in your power to help Harry Potter in the ways I will soon not able to. The world has thrust upon him a heavy burden one that I fear will decide the fate of the world. And I have only made it harder for him. I have purposefully removed from him the chance to learn of rituals and rite that are so common to those of us that grew up in the wizarding world. I do this because of the ritual on page 286. I ask that if Harry should fail to fulfill his destiny that you enact the ritual to give him a second chance. The only cost to Harry would be the Ritual of Protection Against Evil. I have included it with specifics of Harry's circumstances on page 198.

Sincerely,

Albus

PS: This journal must not fall into the hands of those that would use it for evil, destroy it if you must to prevent that from happening.

Harry had already read the whole book. In fact he had spent 5 months memorizing the whole thing. It was full of useful information about rites and rituals. Abe giving this book to him was like a five star gourmet chef giving their personal cookbook to amateur chef. A personal cookbook that contained detailed secret ways of cooking literally no one else in the world knew of.

The pertinent facts were that rites and rituals gave the subject of them some kind of boon but the boon came at a cost. Rites were for actions that had occurred in the past, like doing someone a favor and being in their Rite of Inheritance, or killing a beast and claiming it's body as a Rite of Conquest. Rituals were much more controversial. Rituals required a sacrifice, either at the time of the ritual or continuously after the ritual. For example there was the Ritual of the Soured Tongue, that gave a person the ability to immediately taste and identify any poison they have eaten but they no longer can taste any form of sugar, continual sacrifice. Or immediate… like the willing sacrifice of a mother's life to forever prevent a person or creature from directly harming her son, the Ritual of Protection Against Evil.

However it was the ritual on page 286 of the book that finally caused Harry's current headache. The Ritual of Second Life. Harry took a deep breath as he tried to sort out the facts. He cleared his mind using occlumency and focused. Whenever performing a ritual you must know four things about it, its name, alignment, prerequisites, and its required sacrifice.

"First the name, obviously it was the Ritual of Second Life." Harry muttered to himself.

"Second its alignment. Light rituals were purely willing sacrifice while dark rituals had forced sacrifice," Harry reminded himself. "So this ritual was Light aligned."

"Third prerequisites." He muttered scratching his head. This was where things got complicated. "The subject, me, needs to have died, which stops most people from being able to do this ritual. I have died so I meet that one. The subject needs to be in a runic circle as shown in the book, which I have chalked out on the floor over there. The ritual must happen on the subjects birthday, which is today July 31st. Check. The subject must have been the subject of at least one other ritual. Check, I was the subject of the Ritual of Protection Against Evil. Finally the subject must have in their possession the sands of time. Which is time turner sand." Harry lifted a vial glistening sand up to his eye. The sands floated in the vial, constantly moving and shining in the light. Some clumps moved up while others moved down as the sands clumped and bumped passed each other. It reminded Harry of those muggle lava lamps.

"Fourth the required sacrifice," Harry frowned. This was why Albus never told him about rituals, why Harry had never done a ritual before despite so many being completely worth it. Like the rarely known Ritual of the Hawk that gives the subject better vision better than 20/20 but causes one the inability to hatch an egg. Harry still wasn't sure how Dumbledore figured that sacrifice out, or how a human could hatch an egg. He took a deep breath and cleared his mind again. "Fourth, the required sacrifice. The subject sacrifices the ability to redo any ritual they have done previously in the their new life and sacrifices the boon of every ritual they have been the subject of while keeping their sacrifices. But because I have never sacrificed anything, only my mother did for the Ritual of Protection Against Evil, I only sacrifice my protection against Voldemort."

A soft pop alerted Harry to the presence of a house elf. "Master Harry Potter Sir, Dippy has brought you lunch."

Harry smiled at his house elf. "Thank you Dippy."

"Master Harry Potter Sir, should rest. It has been…" Dippy paused and looked up at something Harry could not see. "21 hours and 35 minutes since Master Harry Potter Sir has slept. Dippy worries Sir is not thinking straight."

Harry yawned he was getting tired. "I just need to think some more. I'm not sure if I want to do this or not and I need to decide today or wait a whole year."

Dippy nodded as Harry stood up and walked into the circle bending down to look at some of the runes. "Can Dippy help Sir in any way?"

"No, assuming all the prerequisites are fulfilled I just say 'I Lord Harry James Potter activate the Ritual of Second Life' and poof it starts." Harry stood up, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes and took a step back towards his desk, only to hear a soft crunch of glass.

He took a step back and looked at vial of time turner sand he just stepped on. Hadn't that been on the desk? He must be getting really tired to have not noticed it rolling on the floor. Suddenly the sand started glittering as runes started to shine with light. Harry's eyes widened as he tried to leap out of the circle only to hit an invisible wall. Harry and Dippy were forced to close their eyes as the light became blinding.

"Oh bugger."

Slowly the light faded and Dippy opened his eyes. He grabbed onto both of his ears pulling them down and wringing the slightly with worry when he noticed Harry was no longer there.

"Master Harry Potter Sir?"

-o-

The Personal Journal of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

Sept. 1903

This is the personal journal of myself, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, I have created it using a combination of Transfiguration, Alchemy, Runes, and of course Ritual magic for the purpose of obtaining my Mastery in the Creation of Magical Artifacts at the very young age of 22, a record or so I'm told. It is the cumulation of almost five years of effort. This specific journal has many pages in and more can be added to while it's size will never be thicker than that of a newspaper the Prophet regularly gives out. While that is impressive, if I do say so myself, the truly great part of this journal is the amount one can fit on a single page. If my Arithmancy is correct one page can hold almost 15 feet of parchment which one can see by scrolling down the page. A witch or wizard simply need to put their finger on the page and move up and the inked letters will move up, more words appearing at the bottom of the page as the top disappears or vice versa. It is truly a marvel.

Nov. 1903

I have added the ability to erase, edit, and add more words even on things written long ago. The trick was in the way the ink is made to appear and disappear when one is scrolling. I find it quite useful as I can edit any mistakes or write notes as I please to things I have written in the past. I have also decided for this reason that I will use this to record my thoughts and opinion as well as the practice of various rites and rituals. The ability to add warnings and edit out mistakes will make this the perfect medium to use as a journal on Rites and Rituals.

June 1904

Despite my desires I cannot create anymore journals like this one. The Ritual used to create this is journal was deemed worthwhile at the time. Now I find myself wishing I hadn't done it. I have created two other journals and found myself in the position of making the biggest mistake subjects of rituals face. Only knowing some of the Required Sacrifice. I have removed the page containing the ritual used in the creating this journal to ensure it no one makes the mistake I have.

Nov. 1981

Harry Potter, you have saved the wizarding world from a great evil that I could not defeat. I worry, however, that the evil will be back. So I have a devised a plan, in the worst case scenario, which will, I believe, make it nigh impossible for you to fail. However doing so will require me to prevent you from doing certain rituals that will make your life easier. To that end I must ensure that you do not enter the wizarding world until you are 11 and ensure you do not spend the winter solstice or summer solstice in the wizarding world until you are 17 years of age. After you've reached that point I doubt it will matter. I have also taken steps to ensure that when you hear about ritual magic you will ignore it and forget about it until you have been part of the Ritual of Second Life or you see this journal. This will make life more difficult for you and I hope you will forgive me for making your struggle worse. However I believe that when you are older you will see that I did what I thought was best for you. I will do my best to ensure this journal gets to you in case of my demise and that on your second go of things you will be able to use this jounal of vast knowledge to your benefit. Two more things of note before you read the rest of this journal. Every Ritual has a cost. Do not do a ritual until you know the cost and are okay with the sacrifice. I have fallen into the trap of doing a ritual before I have fully researched it too many times to not stress this warning. Knowing only some of the required sacrifice is worse than knowing all of the required sacrifice. Finally, the Ritual of Second Life causes ripples in time and magic. The world you are entering will be slightly different than the one you knew. Somethings will be minor, like people have different birthdays, or favorite color. Other's will be major like people existing who did not before or not existing who did before. Be Careful. Best of luck.

Sincerely,

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

AN-

I hope you've enjoyed this little story I thought up while I was bored at work. I'll probably post another chapter once a week or every two weeks if it gets enough reviews, I'm thinking double digits-ish. I could use a beta to read through and find little errors so let me know if you're interested. I've done some editing since I rushed this out so quickly. Please feel free to comment with mistakes I've missed.


	2. The Ritual of Inheritance

_Nov. 1903_

 _I find one of the most pressing questions that many people wonder about Rituals is how multiple Rituals on one subject combine. That is if someone performs multiple rituals throughout their life how do they react with each other? Well the short answer is, most of the time they don't. And by that I mean they have no effect on each other, they will take their sacrifices and give their boons as if the other rituals never happened. However there are two cases in which they do affect each other. The first is Contradictory Rituals, rituals that have a conflict in boon or sacrifice, and the second is Chained Rituals, rituals that are all performed on one subject in a very short time. Chaining rituals is very complex and requires extremely advanced knowledge of rituals, so I will leave that for a later entry. Contradictory Rituals, however can be described briefly._

 _For the boons, the ritual with the greater sacrifice will win out over the one with the lesser sacrifice and continual sacrifice is always considered greater than instant sacrifice. Death, of course, is the greatest sacrifice and is considered instant and continual simultaneously. So if you decide to do two rituals that give similar boons be sure to figure out which one of the sacrifices is greater so you know which boon will apply. Now, if the sacrifices are similar things get more interesting. Instant or one time sacrifices can be done repeatedly assume you have the sacrifice to give again. You could for example sacrifice an object of great personal value as long as you have items of great personal value. You could never sacrifice the_ same _item twice because the item will have been destroyed or vanished from our world, but an 'object of great personal value' can be sacrificed many times. Continual sacrifices however cannot be sacrificed multiple times. This is where as it were the devil is in the details. One could sacrifice their taste of sweet with the Ritual of Soured Tongue and sacrifice their taste of sour with the Ritual of Honeyed Words. However you could not perform the Ritual of Many Tongues, that sacrifices all taste but give great linguistic prowess, and perform either the Ritual of Soured Tongue or the Ritual of Honeyed Words. The reason is that the Many Tongues removes all taste including sweet and sour which is required for the other two mentioned rituals. If you perform a ritual that has a continual sacrifice you have already sacrificed that ritual will fail every time._

This was Dumbledore's fault.

At least that was what he was going to tell anyone and everyone that asked after this ordeal was over. Any stupid things he did like saying the activation phrase to a ritual while inside of a runic array would never be mentioned. It was a hundred percent Dumbledore's fault.

Harry looked around at his surroundings again. He was falling. At least it felt like he was falling. He was moving backwards at great speed with a sensation that felt like falling deep in his stomach. However everything was white as far as he could see so it was hard to tell for certain. He tried to turn around but he found himself unable to do so. It is hard to turn around when there was no air resistance. Or at least he thought there was no air resistance as there was no wind despite his great speed. He wondered briefly if this was what it was like being a muggle astronaut floating in space. He didn't get to contemplate the sensation for long though as he felt himself slowing down.

In the distance far below him he saw something coming towards him… or he was going towards it. Harry determined this was a very surreal experience that he wasn't sure he liked. He strained his neck trying to look behind him to see better when his body suddenly flipped and rotated so that the thing was below his feet. He soon realized that the something was in fact his office. Sure enough the walls rose above his head and he saw his desk, with various papers strewn about, his walls of bookcases somewhat neatly organized, and of course the wonderfully plush carpet that felt lovely between his bare toes.

Wait, carpet? No that's not right his floor was hardwood. Certainly not carpet because how would one draw a runic circle on carpet? Especially, with chalk!? Harry frowned. Everything looked correct and even felt correct, including the obviously incorrect but quite lovely carpet. Well, if there weren't clues here he'd search outside of the office.

Taking a step towards a rather lovely wood door, Harry paused as he heard a moan. No it was a hiss. He looked around, where had that come from? He wondered. There it was a again, definitely a hiss, but also definitely a moan. A hissing moan perhaps, but then how does one do a hissing moan. Harry walked towards his desk where the sound originated from. As he walked around the polished wood the noise of the hissing moaning got more distinct. Looking underneath the desk, there was something hiding in the deep shadows. Harry squinted his eyes as he tried to see what it was. He reached down and grabbed the thing when it twisted and bit deeply into his wrist.

"OW! You ruddy bastard!" He yelled in pain. He cradled his wrist as he glared at the thing. It was a snake… baby… thing? It looked like a human babe covered in disgusting red goo, but had a long tail and a snake like face. With its little arms Harry thought it looked almost like a demented salamander. "Ugly little bugger, aren't you."

" _I will destroy you mortal,"_ it hissed at him. Oh Parseltongue, that's how you hiss-moan.

Harry was never one to back down from a fight especially from demented snake baby salamanders that had delusions of grandeur. He quickly grabbed the disgusting creature under jaw and pulled out from under the desk. _"Alright you ugly demon baby, how did you get in here? And where is here?"_

The thing only responded by screeching in pain as it struggled to get free from his grip. Globs of red goo dripped off it's body and fell to floor. It then vomited a combination of blood and red goo all over Harry. He reflexively tossed the demon baby away from himself and onto the desk, where it bounced once and flopped onto the floor. It scrambled it's way over towards a bookshelf with a small alcove of shadows.

"Oh no you don't!" Harry shouted as he lunged over the desk and dove for the thing. He managed to grab the disgusting thing by the tail as it squirmed under his hand. Harry grabbed it by the back, his one hand covering most if it's back behind both of it's tiny shoulder blades. "Alright start talking."

But it didn't talk instead it struggled in his hands wriggling back and forth trying to squirm it's way out of his hands again. It was at this point that Harry finally noticed a foul black steam rising from it's body. The smell of putrid burnt flesh reached his nose as he gagged almost dropping the thing a second time. It's screams suddenly stopped as it hung limply in his hands. He shook the thing. "Hey, I'm talking to you."

He shook it again. This time it's head and arms fell off turning into the same disgusting red goo it had smeared all over his carpet. He dropped the rest of dissolving body but it never reached the floor and it disappeared into black steam. In fact all of the red goo even the stuff that was vomited onto his chest was disappearing into black mist that faded from sight a few inches above wherever the goo had dropped. Harry felt a shiver go down his spin. It was official this was either the weirdest dream he's ever had or someone put some serious narcotics into his tea.

Harry walked back to the desk and peered under it where he had originally seen the thing. There was still red goo sitting in the shadows. He reached out scooping some onto his fingers as he inspected it in the light. He rolled it around and sure enough it started dissolving into black steam. Yet the goo in the shadows remained. Having reached his sanity's limit he grabbed the whole desk and flipped it over scattering papers and other bobbles on the floor, but revealing the rest of the residue the creature left behind. Sure enough as soon as the light hit it, the final globs of residue disappeared into black mist.

"That's it I'm out." Harry proclaimed as he walked towards the door. "I didn't see anything and I sure didn't touch anything. If anyone has a problem with that it's Dumbledore's fault."

He quickly reached the door flung it open and without even thinking twice walked into the great white nothingness and was overtaken by light.

-o-

"Creepy demon baby!" Harry exclaimed as he sat bolt upright. His heart was racing as his eyes darted around the room he was in. It was an almost serene picture view. He was currently lying in a bed with white sheets, surrounded by white walls. A small brown wooden night stand lay next to him on top of which sat a vase with some yellow flowers in it. The curtains danced lightly in the breeze created by the open window. He heard the distant sounds of traffic and busy city life below. A few chairs were set up around the small room.

Harry took a deep breath through his nose. The sterile smell of hospital sheets finally registered as he realized he was in St. Mungo's. He groaned as flopped backwards throwing his arm over his eyes to shield himself from the light. A chuckle reached his ears.

"Yeah I had the same reaction when I woke from my first ritual." A surprisingly familiar voice said in a playful tone. Harry moved his arm slightly to peek at his visitor. Standing the the now open door to the room was one James Potter in all his roguish glory. Smirking as he leaned casually against the door frame like he hadn't been dead for the past 48 some years. "Although, two hours is a surprisingly quick turn around. I think I was out almost five hours after my ritual."

"Ritual?" Harry squeaked. His voice cracking.

"Yes, ritual. The Ritual of Inheritance?" James said. "Only the ritual you've been bugging me for permission to perform for the last, oh I don't know, three years? Ring any bells?"

"Uh…" Harry so eloquently responded.

"The ritual to make you Heir of the Potter Lordship. Sacrifices include a small amount of blood and the ability to back out of the Lordship should I die?" James stood up starting too look concerned. "Should I call a mediwitch back in here?"

"Er… No it's starting to come back to me." Harry lied. He honestly had no idea what was going and was still hung up on his 48 years dead father was chatting with him looking no older than 30. In fact his father was wearing standard Auror gear including a rather hefty dragonhide shirt that was sticking out from under his robes.

"Sure thing, son. I know how you hate mediwitches." James said with a grin. "Anyway as I promised we would do the inheritance ritual this year on the summer solstice. But I figured since it was a big day I could get you something special a little early."

With that he tossed a small parcel onto Harry's lap. It was wrapped in brown paper and landed with a light thud. Harry looked from the parcel to James and back to the parcel again feeling like he missed something important.

"Go on then open it." James said encouragingly. Harry slowly unwrapped the gift and found himself holding a wand holster with a wand sticking out of it. He looked back to his father with confusion. "It's a wand holster with a training wand in it. I know I said you'd have to wait until your tenth birthday but that's only a month away. And I _am_ the greatest father ever you know."

Harry just looked down at the wand and holster again feeling even more like he had gone off the deep end. He looked back, only to startle slightly, as his father was now towering over him. Sweet Merlin! When did he get over here?

"Are you sure you're feeling okay?" James asked concern etched over his face as gently grabbed Harry's facing looking him over.

"Yeah I'm fine just a little overwhelmed." Harry said for once actually saying how he felt.

"Well the healers did say confusion and shock could last for a few hours after you woke up," James said after a moment of looking for something in Harry's eyes. "Anyway, I've got to go to work. Sirius got here just a few minutes ago and can watch over you until my shift is over."

"Sirius?" Harry exclaimed. "He's here?"

"Yes, he took an earlier shift so someone would be here when you woke up. I was actually on my way out when the healer said your monitoring charm signalled you woke up." James explained as he started walking towards the door. "I'm going to send a mediwitch in just in case there was some unforeseen side effect, but I'll see you later tonight."

James reached the door when Harry found his voice again. "Dad?"

"Yeah, Harry?" James replied turning slightly to look at his son.

"Thanks for being here for me," Harry said. "You know when I woke up from the ritual."

James smiled. "Of course, gotta look after my only kid after all."

With that James finally left the room leaving Harry in a very confused state. What in the name of Merlin is going on? Harry looked down at the wand and holster again before flopping backwards into bed for the second time. Wait! TENTH BIRTHDAY! I'm a fifty year old man not a ten year old kid!

Harry sat up and removed the training wand from the holster. It was better than nothing even if it didn't feel as nice as his original wand. Harry quickly conjured and small hand mirror. It was a plain circular mirror without embellishments, and when Harry looked closely he noticed the glass was warped slightly. He knew that a training wand wasn't as effect at channeling magic but come on he could casually conjure much fancier mirrors ten times the size of this one perfectly. He sighed, well it can't be helped and at least he conjured something. Holding the mirror up to his face, he was shocked to see staring back at him was the childhood version of himself.

It was official he was going crazy.

"Well if I'm going nuts, I'm might as well get out of this dump of a room." Harry said to no one in particular. Tossing the mirror to the side, Harry stretched his back trying to get the kinks out before flipping the sheets off of himself. He was dressed in rather plain medical robes and was currently barefoot. He swung his legs over the side closing his eyes as he braced himself for the cold tile floors.

"And where do you think you're going?" A voice growled out at him from the doorway. Harry looked up and tensed. Standing in the doorway was none other than Bellatrix Lestrange wand out and glaring at him menacingly.

"Oh, bugger."

-o-

 _Page 39_

 _Ritual of Inheritance_

 _Alignment: Light_

 _Prerequisites: One must be the heir apparent of a family with the title of Lordship, a runic circle as seen below, and have the approval of the current Lord to be their Heir._

 _Sacrifices: A small amount of blood, no more than a few drops while acting the ritual, Instant Sacrifice. The inability to to pass on the title Lord should the current Lord be unable to attend his duties permanently, Constant Sacrifice._

 _Boon: The title of Heir of the Lord of the family, along with all legal and magical implication that comes with said title._

 _A fairly common ritual that most lords perform with their oldest son between the ages of 8 and 12, certainly no later than when they receive their first wand. It simply ensure the line of succession through magical and legal means to avoid inter-family conflicts. One can no more purposefully try to harm their Family Heir as they could harm their Family Lord. This ritual became popular back in the 1640s after a number of households fell due to squabbling among members after the Lord passed on. Some members would try to claim the Lordship over the designated Heir and this ritual firmly put a stop to that._

 _AN- So for whatever reason won't allow lines with just a dash to go through. So my line breaks haven't been appearing. Which is annoying to say the least. I've gone through and fixed that and looked for errors._


	3. The Ritual of the Mad Slave

_From the journal of Albus Dumbledore_

 _Feb. 1905_

 _It occurs to me that I have been jumping back and forth on various topics when I should organize things a little better. So in that sense it is best to talk about what is commonly referred to as The Four Requirements. These are the four things you absolutely must know when you are performing a ritual. The Four Requirements are, Name, Alignment, Prerequisites, and Sacrifices._

 _The Name is essential because that is how one activates a ritual. Just like with floo travel you must speak the name but rituals have an extra guard in that you must use the following activation phrase. "I, [Full Legal Name], activate the [Name of Stated Ritual]." Now it is very important that one speaks clearly and enunciates the name of the ritual as it is possible to activate the wrong ritual, again very much like floo travel. Also one should note that once one makes the above statement the ritual will proceed if all the Prerequisites are present, or all the Prerequisites are satisfied within a short timeframe._

 _Last Edited. Jul. 1983_

 **-o-**

"And where do you think you're going?" A voice growled out at him from the doorway. Harry looked up and tensed. Standing in the doorway was none other than Bellatrix Lestrange wand out and glaring at him menacingly.

"Oh, bugger."

Bellatrix took three quick strides and was upon him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and scowled down at him. "You _know_ you shouldn't be trying to get out of bed yet. Your father even said that your memory was a little spotty."

"What?" Harry said feeling very confused. He was, sadly, starting to get used to feeling of his world being ripped out from under him. Bellatrix wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug, his face pressing against her chest.

"Do you have any idea how worried your father would have been if you had wandered off. How worried Sirius and I would have been." Bellatrix's voice wavered slightly as she held him. Harry awkwardly sat there trying to figure out why one of the most devoted subjects of his sworn enemy was hugging him. The silence stretched for a few moments longer than Harry would have liked before Bellatrix pulled back glared down at him again. "Now I don't care if you're bored or if you hate St. Mungo's, you _will_ get back into that bed, young man, and you will stay there until the mediwitches clear you to leave. Am I clear?"

"I… Uh…" Harry stumbled as words failed him.

"Am. I. Clear." She repeated, enunciating every word, her fingers digging into his arms as she glared down at him even harder.

"Yes?" Harry said his voice sounding as uncertain as he felt.

"Good," She said in a rather chipper voice. Her glare relented into an easy smile as she hugged him one more time. "The first ritual is always a little rough. I'm sure you'll be fine in no time."

"Alright, Bella," came a rather amused voice from the door. "Let the poor kid breath a bit would you?"

Harry looked over Bellatrix's shoulder and saw his godfather, Sirius Black, looking quite amused at his current uncomfortable situation. His smirk seemed to widen when he actually saw Harry's face. The Sirius in front of him looked young and energetic. It had been a long time since the last time Harry had seen his godfather's face, but he could still clearly remember how haggard the man had looked. How his eyes seemed dim and sunken into his face his hair withered and frail and despite how cocky his grin was it always felt a little empty. This Sirius however looked young, healthy and happy. His eyes were bright with amusement and his grin held a playfulness to it that Harry hadn't seen before.

The two adults started talking and Harry got a good look at Bellatrix for the first time. She too had a liveliness to her that he did not remember. He had certainly never seen Bellatrix smile before. Well a real smile, not like that half crazed grin she wore. Although her rapid change of moods still reminded him of the evil servant of the Dark Lord. His thoughts were interrupted by a loud growl coming from his stomach. Both of the physical adults in the room turned towards him.

"Why don't you try to find him some food, Bella?" Sirius asked. "Hunger is a good sign of recovery from any ritual."

"An excellent idea," Bellatrix said happily. "Anything in particular you would like Harry?"

"Anything would be fine," Harry said weakly. This whole friendly Bellatrix thing was going to take some getting used to.

"Alright, I'll see what I can find." She said as she left scooting past Sirius. Harry watched her turn the corner before looking back at Sirius.

"Is she… I mean she seemed a little…" Harry trailed off not sure how to phrase it.

"Moody?" Sirius offered.

"Sure," Harry said. I was going to go with not as bat-shit crazy anymore but moody works.

Sirius smirked before letting out a bark of laughter. He shut the door behind him as he went to take a seat. "Yeah, she's always like that isn't she." His amusement seemed to taper off and his grin left his face. He seemed to be staring into the distance contemplating something. "Harry, as your tenth birthday is only a month away your father is going to take you to the Litha celebration tonight. This is the first time you'll really be out and about with strangers. I know you've been to events before but those times only certain people were allowed. Usually just friends and family. This time there will be complete strangers and some of them might not like our family. So I feel the need to tell you something before others tell it to you, something that could… color your perception of certain family members. Do you understand so far?"

Harry nodded uncertain of what Sirius could be hinting at.

"Do you remember when your father talked to you about the night your mother died? When he became The-Knight-of-Light?" Sirius asked.

Harry hesitated. James Potter, The-Knight-Of-Light? "I don't remember," he replied hesitantly.

"That's alright probably just the after effects of the ritual, short term confusion and memory loss is common. Don't worry it should go away soon." Sirius said. He paused taking a deep breath and fortifying himself as he careful continued. "Anyway, on October 31st of '81 the Dark Lord, He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, attacked your house. You-Know-Who used a spy, a former friend of the family, to get past the wards and into the house. Well your mom and dad tried to fight him off but he was too powerful. Knowing they would die soon your mother sacrificed herself to hinder the Dark Lord. Your father used that chance to kill You-Know-Who and save you, but your mother died and your father fell into a coma."

Harry's eyes widened as he listened to the story that was very different from the one that he was used to.

"Now, when I arrived at the house and saw what had happened and due to the magic that was involved I immediately knew who had betrayed you and your parents. I had thought…" He stopped leaning back in his chair looking withered, looking slightly like the Sirius Harry remembered. "The coma your father was in had been very deep and I originally thought he had died. After confronting that _traitor_ , he framed me for the crime and blew up a street with bunch of muggles on it. I ended up in Azkaban for a few days."

Sirius shuddered and his eyes clouded over as he thought back to those days. "Fortunately, Dumbledore saw that your father was alive still and rushed him to St. Mungo's. After intensive care, he woke up three days later and told everyone what had happened. Because of how hectic things were back then I hadn't received a trial yet but once your father told people what happened I was rushed to trial and found innocent of all crimes. Being the only possible Heir Black and seeing how close I was to being wrongfully imprisoned my grandfather, Arcturus, named me Heir and made me go through with the Ritual of Inheritance like just you did. Now, at that time Bellatrix was a supporter of the Dark Lord. She is an extremely powerful witch but was more feared at the time because of her insane, fanatical behavior. Bellatrix was part of an attack aimed at another target of the Dark Lord, the Longbottoms."

"You see with the Dark Lord dead his servants, the Death Eaters, were all being rounded up for trial and many of them were lashing out and attacking anyone who might know what really happened to their Lord. The Lestranges, one of which Bellatrix was married to, decided to attack a prominent ally of Potters and it just so happened that you, me, and James were living there trying to lay low until things cooled off. You and your father were currently out at the time meeting with Dumbledore, while I was helping to round up the last of the Death Eaters. When I got back to Longbottom Manor, the Lestranges had attacked and were torturing Alice and Frank Longbottom. I managed to take the two Lestrange brothers out with a surprise attack when Bellatrix noticed my presence and tried to curse me." Sirius paused in the story and looked directly at Harry. "I need you to understand that she had me dead to rights. I should have been dead on the floor that day but instead she seized up and passed out for what at the time seemed like no reason. But Magic always has a reason behind it, Harry. Remember that. After that I arrested the lot and sent them off to Azkaban. Now can you guess why what happened happened? I'll give you a hint it had to do with my recently acquired title as Heir Black."

"Um… I don't know Sirius, the only thing I can think of is that a member of a house can't attack their Lord or Heir?" Harry said. Sirius nodded and smiled. "But that can't be true because Bellatrix was a Lestrange you said so yourself!"

"Not necessarily. There are things that will nullify a marriage contract like the one Lestrange and Bellatrix were under. Primarily dark magic." Sirius said with a grimace. "Each contract is different and the Blacks are known for not minding the really dark stuff. Except of course on members of their own family." Sirius took a fortifying breath before continuing.

"Harry, they used the Ritual of the Mad Slave on her," he said softly. His voice was hard as steel and his eyes blazed with fury. "I wouldn't ever tell you about this kind of dark magic if I didn't have to, but you need to understand what it does. There's a lot of rules involved but basically the ritual turns a person into a slave but every time they are forced to do something they don't want to they start having personality dissonance. They go insane with multiple personalities. Thier true self that fights against orders while they are still forced to go through with it. It's some very nasty dark magic. But it's also the kind of dark magic that breaks a marriage contract. None one wants their child controlled like that not even Blacks. When I told Lord Black, my grandfather Arcturus, what happened he investigated and used his pull to test Bellatrix. That's when this all came to light. Boy was he mad when…" Sirius smiled ruefully and trailed off shaking his head. "The point is some people might call your Aunt Bella some awful things and you need to know what truly happened. I know she gets a little moody sometimes but it's all because of that thrice damned ritual. Mind healers could only do so much to help her."

Harry nodded gravely. He wondered if the Bellatrix in his world was in similar situation. Was she slowly driven insane while forced to follow the whims of a madman? It would certainly explain why she was so off kilter all the time. The door to the room opened and Bellatrix walked in with some sandwiches.

"I wasn't sure which ones you would prefer so I just got a selection," Bellatrix said offering Harry a platter of different sandwiches. Harry grabbed the one on top and hungrily bit in. "What were you boys talking about while I was gone?"

"Just Harry trying to convince me to get him a broom for his birthday," Sirius said nonchalantly, though he grinned and gave Harry a small wink. "I think a training wand will get him into enough trouble until he starts Hogwarts though."

Bellatrix huffed and rolled her eyes. The conversation dissolved into small talk as Harry carefully mined the two information about what was different in this timeline and his original. However he soon found that much of two timelines were the same. Ignoring that his father was alive and 'defeated' Voldemort, Sirius was not in Azkaban, and Bellatrix wasn't an insane Death Eater. It was almost comforting to know that even with a ritual that broke time Dumbledore was still widely regarded as off his kilter, Voldemort was an egotistical maniac, and the Quibbler made no sense to anyone without the last name Lovegood. Although, according to Bellatrix the Quibbler's rune puzzles were absolutely delightful. Harry enjoyed spending time with his godfather, it seemed like he never really got a good chance to just talk about random things last time. He was also warming up to Bellatrix, slowly. Very slowly. She was very nice and considerate if a bit… emotional at times.

The conversation was put to halt as a healer came in and told Harry he needed to get some rest if he was going to attend the Lithe tonight. Harry smiled as the two adults and laid back into the bed. He had a lot to think about, and even more to plan. But as his head rested on the pillow he found his mind drifting off and quickly fell asleep.

-o-

Harry stared at the mass of witches and wizards in front of him. He didn't think he'd ever seen such a large gather before. He had, of course, been to a few private Lithe celebrations, and celebrated every Yule with the Weasleys, but he'd never been to the public celebration before. Between his status as Lord Potter and the Chosen One he'd avoided large public gatherings as much as he could, least he get swarmed by people. Looking back he was actually quite the hermit, rarely going out and if he did it was usually in disguise. This giant party was certainly not something he would have attended normally. Four massive bonfires were spread out across the sweeping grounds in very wide but shallow pits. They framed a large square that people danced into and out of as they circled the fires moving in orbits and sometimes switching to circle another fire. It was mesmerizing to watch and Harry could easily feel the magic surging to and fro with the beat of the music.

His father was currently shaking hands and making small talk with various people as they came up to talk to him. He would always smile politely and make small talk but would quickly excuse himself after a few moments. Harry felt that his father's smile seemed strained especially when none of the well wishers were nearby. For his part Harry smiled and greeted each person but only really spoke when addressed specifically. It was actually rather nice to be on the outskirts of attention for once, much more manageable as he was sure if he was in his father's shoes his patients would have been stretched to the limits already.

A light tap on his shoulder and a soft "excuse me," rescued himself and his father from a particular persistent fan of his father's. Harry turned to see a young girl his smiling at him. Her long strawberry-blonde and soft smile reminded Harry of someone but the name was escaping his grasp. "Hello Harry, Auntie Amelia said to bring your father and you over to our table. Sirius and Aunt Bella are already over there."

"Ah, excellent," James said as he turned to the girl. "Harry why don't you head over, while I finish speaking to Mr. Warrington."

"Alright," Harry said all too happy to make his escape. Harry smiled at the girl while he wracked his brain trying to figure out just who she was. "Please lead the way."

She beamed at him before taking his hand and darting off into the crowd. She weaved expertly through the mass of people as Harry struggled to follow. He was still mentally trying to get used to being smaller and his constant bumping into witches and wizards was proof of that. Eventually they managed to make it to an area filled with tables and the crowd thinned out. They walked at a much more sedate pace up to a table with Sirius, Bellatrix, and another witch whose back was turned to him. Sirius seemed to notice them first as he smiled and waved them over causing the previously unknown witch to turn around.

The older witch held a steadfast and dignified look about her. Her light blonde almost grey hair was short, just resting at her shoulder with slight curls. Her formal robes and monical reminded Harry of his trial back in the summer of his fifth year. His mind instantly brought forth the name Madam Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Which meant the girl currently pulling him along was her niece Susan Bones. It was hard to connect the young girl in front of him to the woman that she would become. The strong confident woman that helped during the war, the beautiful woman in her wedding gown as she married Ernie Macmillian, or the older 'Madam Bones' that sat a few seats to his left on the Wizengamot. It was decidedly odd. If this was how he would feel around a long time acquaintance he wasn't sure how he'd feel around his old friends when he saw them for the first time.

"Already dragging boys around I see," Amelia said lightheartedly. She seemed to be greatly amused at Susan's sudden blush and her quickly letting go of his hand.

"Auntie," Susan practically moaned blushing down to her neck.

"Sounds like wedding bells to me, Amelia" Sirius said his grin once again firmly plastered onto his face. "What do you think sounds better, Harry and Susan Potter-Bones, or Bones-Potter?"

"I think Potter-Bones has quite the nice ring to it," Amelia said as she calmly took a sip of her drink. Her voice gave away nothing but Harry could see a slight grin past her cup.

"A wizard could do much worse you know," Harry said thinking of how fetching she looked in her long white wedding gown. He smiled as he remembered the wedding it was almost 30 years ago but he could still remember that horrid hangover. It was definitely worth it.

Sirius's barking laughter exploded over the noise of the crowd as Susan squeaked and dashed to the spot next to her aunt to hide. Amelia seemed thoroughly amused and even Bellatrix was smirking behind her cup. Harry sat next to Sirius and listened in as the topic of conversation drifted off. James soon joined them sitting on the other side of Amelia Bones from Susan. Harry quietly listened in but quickly got bored of the conversation once it reached the topic of the newest bill in the Wizengamot. Harry's eyes wandered until he noticed what could only be Luna Lovegood and her father dancing. He watched amused for a few minutes until he forced himself to focus back onto the conversation. He knew it would be beneficial to pay attention he just couldn't be bothered with legislation about potion cauldron width. The conversation seemed to lull as all eyes looked just passed where Harry was sitting.

Turning around Harry saw an eight year old Luna Lovegood smiling at him with her hands behind her back as she rocked back and forth on her toes. Seeing she had his attention she spoke in her patented dreamy voice. "Hello Harry Potter, I couldn't help but notice you staring at my father and I, and wanted to ask if you would like to join us."

Harry turned back to the group and looked around. His father looked fairly amused at the whole situation and just shrugged, while Sirius had a grin he was pretty sure was just permanently stuck there at this point. Bellatrix and Amelia both held their dignity much better than the men as they just had slightly raised eyebrows. While Susan looked thoroughly confused.

"Uh… Sure?"

-o-

 _Page 156_

 _Ritual of the Mad Slave_

 _Alignment: Dark_

 _Prerequisites: One subject that has been placed under the Imperius Curse, two runic circles (see below)[both runic circles have been redacted], [all other prerequisites redacted]_

 _Sacrifices: The 'master' of the ritual sacrifices the ability to cast the Imperius Curse for as long as the slave bond lasts, continual sacrifice. The 'slave' forcibly sacrifices their free will, Forced Sacrifice. [Other sacrifices redacted]_

 _Boon: The master gains a slave that will be forced to follow their instructions._

 _This is a very heinous ritual. The darkest of the dark. In my youth I thought it acceptable to have this ritual detailed out for purely academic purposes. There are some, admittedly, very interesting reactions and procedures that can provide insight into Forced Sacrifice. However, looking back I see how foolish that action was. Included below are some ways to notice that the Ritual of the Mad Slave has been performed on someone. See page 185 for the the Ritual of Cleansing, specifically section 8, for information on how to rid a slave of this terrible ritual._

 _Last Edited: Mar. 1965_

AN- A very background heavy chapter with a little fluff at the end to lighten things up. Let me know what you think. I'm planning on releasing a few more chapters every week on Fridays.


	4. The Ritual of the Midnight Dancer

_From the Journal of Albus Dumbledore_

 _Mar. 1905_

 _The last entry deals with the Name, this time we will be discussing the Alignment. Now the Alignment can either be Light or Dark. Light indicates that the ritual is purely willing sacrifice on everyone involved in the ritual. Certain Light rituals will even work better if the those sacrificing are more willing. For example if two people do the same ritual to increase their magic one could have substantial more growth after the ritual if they are more willing to make that sacrifice. Hesitation and uncertainty about the willingness for your own sacrifice will decrease the power of the ritual and you will still lose the full sacrifice. This is why it is important to never go into a ritual with mixed feelings. Dark rituals, however, have an element of forced sacrifice. This could be anything that goes against the will of the one being forced. In this case the only time it will fail is if the one being forced to sacrifice is actually willing to make that sacrifice. For both willing and forced sacrifice bravado does very little to influence the outcome. Magic will pierce your subconscious mind and pull your true intentions forward, so do be honest with yourself before you perform a ritual. Dark rituals will also blacken the soul. The best analogy would be that the more Dark Magic and Dark rituals one uses the more the soul rots. Once soul naturally cleanses itself but continual use will leave nothing but a wither rotten thing where one's soul should be._

 _Harry, after much deliberation and research I believe I have found the reason your mother's sacrifice to protect you worked so well. While other people have indeed used the Protection from Evil ritual in the past your protection was beyond anything ever recorded. I believe the reason was your mother's willingness to sacrifice for you. From what you've told me of your memories your mother was given the option to leave but choose instead to stay and die for you. I know it is difficult for you but please understand that magic recognized your mother's willingness to sacrifice everything for you and used that to fuel the ritual. Lily's strength came from her willingness to do anything to protect those precious to her and I believe that you have inherited that strength. I believe Ms. Granger called it your "saving people thing". Use that strength in rituals in the future._

-o-

"Hello Harry Potter, I couldn't help but notice you staring at my father and I, and wanted to ask if you would like to join us."

"Uh… Sure?"

"Excellent," Luna said happily as she took his hand and lead him towards the bonfires. "I'd teach you the dance that father and I were doing but I'm afraid that one is just for family. We can do the more traditional dance though."

"I'm not sure I know the moves to the dance though," Harry said. Luna stopped and turned to look at him.

She tilted her head slightly as she looked up at him. "Well, I suppose I'll just have to teach you then." With that Luna started to guide him through the steps of the traditional Litha dance. She held one of his hands while she guided his other to a spot at the small of her back before she started to move. She smiled warmly as she helped him through the steps until he knew them all. Harry quickly found himself joining the many other witches and wizards bounding across the field and weaving between the bonfires right behind Luna. His steps were a bit awkward at first and he couldn't quite find the beat but soon enough Luna had him laughing and dancing like everyone else. With every pass around a bonfire he felt more open to the magic in the air and more energized than he felt in a while. Eventually Luna stepped to the side of the dancers she turned around, clasping her hands behind her back, gave him a bright grin, thanked him for the lovely and marched off to the tables. Harry couldn't help but smile in fondness over the bizarre girl. Luna always seemed to make those around her feel a little less stressed after she talked to them, although usually they were a lot more confused.

Harry looked to where Luna was walking off to and froze. Sitting at a table was a much younger Xenophilius Lovegood and a woman who could only be Luna's mother. She looked like a thirty year old Luna, her long bright blonde hair, grey eyes, and she even had her wand tucked behind her ear. Luna's mother, Pandora if he remembered correctly, died when Luna was nine which would be sometime in 1990 or early 1991. If his tenth birthday was was only a month away like James said at St. Mungo's it was June of 1990. Luna's mom was going to die sometime in the next eight months, to a spell backfire, and he had no idea when it was going to happen.

He walked back towards his family's table in a daze. Luna was one of his very best friends throughout his life, he couldn't let her suffer but on the other hand his knowledge of what was happening was already tenuous. If he started to let things slip even more then that knowledge could be useless. He struggled with his thoughts as he mindlessly followed his feet. A voice suddenly pulled him out of his daze and he looked around.

"Harry!" Sirius shouted. Sirius was just behind him fighting the crowd to get to him. "Harry, I've been calling to you for almost a minute, are you alright you look like you've just seen a bogart."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Harry said automatically. He certainly was not fine. He hasn't even gotten a chance to figure out what's going on and now he had to figure out not only if he could but if he should save Luna's mom.

"Okay, if you say so." Sirius looked dubious but he appeared willing to drop the matter for his sake. "I'm about to go see Cybele, would you like to tag along? Your dad had to go break up a minor scuffle, nothing important just some drunks fighting over a century old blood feud. Unless of course you'd rather go flirt with Susan some more."

Harry gave him a very bland look before pinching the bridge of his nose. "I wasn't flirting with Susan, Sirius. I was being polite."

"Yeah, I'm sure you were pup," Sirius said wiggling his eyebrows. "And I'm going to go be very polite with Cybele. Tell you what you turn the old Potter charm on her daughter Daphne and Astoria while I be… polite, with Cybele and I'll teach you the most important spell a young wizard like yourself could know."

Harry wasn't sure he wanted to know any spells that Sirius thought were 'the most important spell a young wizard could know', but he nodded and followed Sirius. Anything to forgo the headache he felt coming. The two wandered over to where the Greengrass family was sitting and Sirius immediately starting flirting with Lady Greengrass. Harry just smiled at the two sisters, Astoria and Daphne while pretending to not hear his godfather and the Lady Greengrass flirting. Daphne seemed just as uncomfortable as Harry felt, while Astoria seemed oblivious to the whole thing and smiled genially to Harry.

"Heir Potter, a pleasure to see you again" The younger Greengrass sister said in greeting. Like her mother and sister Astoria had long dark blonde hair and blue eyes. Unlike her sister and mother she had a much warmer feel to her. She just seemed more open and inviting than the more traditionally fridge Greengrass's acted.

Harry blinked twice before trying to pull up all the etiquette Hermione taught him ages ago. "Hello Heiress Greengrass and Debutante Greengrass, it is a pleasure to see you both as well." Merlin he hated politics as Lord Potter and the "Vanquisher of Voldemort" he could say pretty much whatever was on his mind, etiquette be damned, and no one would bat an eye. Great, he was going to have play the game as it were for the next ten years at least.

"Heir Potter," came the incredibly colder greeting from Daphne. "I suppose we will be foisted with your presence for as long as Lord Black and my mother are talking."

Harry did his best not to let his amusement show. It was nice to see that even at ten Daphne was the epitome of a cold-hearted, young, aristocratic lady. Give it a few more years of practice and she would probably be able to cut down any man who approached her with words alone. "Yes, I suppose you will. Are you quite enjoying the festival?"

"Oh yes, I am very much so," Astoria said jumping into the conversation enthusiastically. "This is my first time and it's just lovely how the magic seems to sing in the air. It's just beautiful. If only some people would enjoy the feeling" She said the last part rather pointedly at her sister.

Daphne just huffed and looked away. Harry turned to Astoria and asked, "Would you be interested in a dance Debutante Greengrass?"

Astoria eagerly agreed and they slipped off into the crowd of dancing witches and wizards. Harry was happy to dance with the young girl and the euphoria that was snatched away so suddenly before started to return to him. After a few minutes the two returned to where Daphne was sitting. Astoria was slightly red from the exertion of dancing and breathing hard but was beaming from the chance to dance. By the time they made it back Daphne was chatting rather coldly with Ernie MacMillian. She seemed to be cutting into him about something because the boy looked rather embarrassed. The boy seemed like he was building up like a volcano while Daphne spoke down to him.

"I'm sorry for interrupting, but perhaps Heir MacMillian could take Debutante Greengrass for a dance? She seems to love dancing but I feel a bit run off my feet." Harry said.

Ernie seemed about to protest for a moment before he caught the cold gaze Daphne was sending him. "What a sound idea, Heir Potter. Debutante Greengrass if you would give me this dance?"

Astoria seemed delighted to accept and the two quickly disappeared into the crowd. Daphne turned towards him and raised an eyebrow. Harry smiled and flopped down into a chair next to her. "You seemed to give him quite the thrashing there. Although, he looked like he was about to return the favor."

"He's an idiot," Daphne said. "Just like everyone else who wants a chance at the Greengrass fortune." She narrowed her eyes at him accusingly.

"Oh, don't look at me like that," Harry said his hand up in mock surrender. "I'm honestly not interesting in anyone else's money. I'm Heir to the Potter fortune and technically while Sirius has no children I'm the unofficial Heir Black as well. That more than enough for me."

Daphne's eyes widened slightly. "I suppose you wouldn't have known because it's not exactly relevant to you, but Lord Sirius Black named me his Heir Apparent through my Grandmother Dorea Potter nee Black when I was born. At the time of course he wasn't Lord of course but it still applies until he files paperwork stating otherwise. So as Heir Potter and Heir Black I have little reason to push for the Greengrass fortune. If I really wanted to manipulate the system I'd be better off making sure those two don't have kids." He pointed at the very close Lady Greengrass and Lord Black that seemed to be ignoring everything around them for each other.

Harry stood up before smiling down at Daphne. "So, after saying all that why don't we go for a dance? It might make you feel a little better."

Daphne just stared at him incredulously and didn't move. "Come on, Heiress Greengrass, dancing between the fires is supposed to be good for your magic." When she still didn't move or say anything Harry grabbed her hand swept her onto her feet and moved the two into the area with the dancers. "Besides it's not like dancing hurts anyone."

"No, but I might hurt you," Daphne mumbled angrily under her breath. Harry just laughed and lead her through the dance, while the Greengrass Heiress allowed him to. After they rotated through all the bonfires a few times Daphne seemed much less hostile. Harry even noticed her smile a few times but she would quickly hide it behind a blank face when she saw him smirking at her. After a while the music started to slow down and Harry decided it was a good time to stop and drag Sirius away from the Lady Greengrass.

It only took a few minutes to finally convince Sirius it was time to head back to their original group. Harry made some small talk with Susan while the adults continued their conversation with the addition of Sirius. Eventually though the magic in the air started to fade and James put his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Well it's way past my bedtime, so we're going to head home," James said stifling a yawn. "Com'on Harry, I'm sure you must be getting pretty tired by now, it's… two in the morning."

"I am feeling a bit drowsy," Harry lied. He honestly felt like he had just woken up after a long nap and was ready to go. Harry let himself be dragged off to the apparition point before he had the very uncomfortable feeling of side-along apparition. He had forgotten how much more uncomfortable it is to be pulled along with a side-along apparition than to simply disapparate alone.

Harry soon found himself standing on a large interior balcony overlooking an entrance hall with the Potter Crest spread across the smooth marble floors. A staircase on either side lead down to the entrance hall and a large chandelier hung from the domed roof. His father was already trudging through the double doors behind him down a corridor with many open rooms. Each room seemed to be themed differently, a small dining room with a tea set, an open dance hall, a small den with lots of bookcases and comfy looking armchairs. Harry didn't get a chance to look at them all as they walked to the end of the hall. Going up a small innocuous staircase the two Potters walked up to the carpeted floor above. There were only a handful of rooms and Harry quickly saw what he assumed was his. It was indicated by the finely printed "Harry Potter's Room" on a placard. The inside was rather spacious with a desk, a large bed, two huge windows looking out over the a large yard, and Quidditch posters that filled the walls.

A quick 'Goodnight, Harry' from James followed by what sounded like a large door shutting was all the confirmation he needed to know that James was going to be fast asleep soon. Harry grinned as he took out the practice wand his father had gotten him earlier that day. Quickly silencing his shoes, Harry quietly snuck out and started exploring the house. Harry soon learned that the Potter Manor was exactly how he had remembered it. Well some of the rooms were different but it was still the fundamentally the same. Four large entertain rooms for parties and such on the first floor, smaller more functional and personal rooms, on the second floor and bedrooms on the various third floor wings that were only connect through various hidden passageways.

Harry quickly made his way out to the broom shed outside. One quick unlocking charm to get through the simple lock and Harry had a broom he could fly on. After flying past the edge of the wards, he shrunk the broom with some difficulty given that the wand wasn't meant for such advanced charm. Pocketing the smaller broom and his wand as it would probably hinder him more than help, Harry started to focus on an apparition point. He needed to figure out what was different between his world and this one and the best place to get that kind of information was newspapers. A forceful push of magic and Harry apparated away.

-o-

When Harry landed he felt like someone had just suckerpunched him right in the stomach. His magic felt drained and his body ached from overexertion. He gasped on the ground for a few seconds before he slowly stood up. Stretching his body to work the kinks out, Harry swore under his breath. That had bloody hurt and unfortunately he had to do it again to get back to Potter Manor.

Harry looked around and was pleased to note he was exactly where he wanted to be. Right in front of the Daily Prophet's Off-Site Historical Storage Center. Inside contained a copy every newspaper the Daily Prophet ever published. Harry took a moment to feel for the wards. His magic stretching over each layer and searching for the security wards, but to his amazement he only found a monitoring ward to notify the auror's if someone broke in. He had figured they'd have more wards than that. Sure they had other wards, fire prevention, pest control, temperature control and a few others but the actual security wards were pathetic.

Harry easily directed the monitoring wards back in on itself as a feedback loop of a constant 'everything is fine' design. It was quick and dirty and wouldn't have worked if the security was tighter but then again who would break into a storage facility for old newspapers? The actual Daily Prophet had all the newspapers for the last six months or so locked up in their basement for reverence. Harry just thanked his good luck and went inside to find all the newspapers from 1980 and on.

It had been about an hour and Harry was staring at all the newspapers he had around him. Various titles had been strewn about around him. "Voldemort Claimed Dead, James Potter in Magical Coma!" "Sirius Black Sent to Azkaban!" "Heir Black Innocent! Minister Crouch Under Investigation for Prejudice!" The titles and stories painted a picture much like the story Sirius had told him earlier. Under a massive title called "Lestrange and Black Marriage Dissolved! Lestrange in Azkaban for the Darkest Magic!" a story lay about how the Lestranges used a 'Dark Ritual' to enslave Bellatrix Black. He kept looking for other clues about differences but he didn't know much about his original Wizarding World's 1980s. He sighed as he put the newspapers back where they belonged.

He had found out some things that were different that he hadn't known before. Pettigrew, the traitor that gave up his parents to Voldemort, was in prison, Regulus Black was in prison for being a known Death Eater, not dead like in his timeline, and a lot of Death Eaters got off. He didn't know for certain but he suspected that more Death Eaters got off than in his timeline.

Harry rubbed his eyes after putting the last of the newspapers away. It was probably three or four in the morning and given it was the height of summer the sun would be out in an hour or two. The energy he had felt after the Lithe festival had left him making him feel like he was on his last legs. He stifled a yawn as he walked out of storage building. Quickly undoing the adjustments to the monitoring charm, Harry braced himself for what was likely to be another very, very uncomfortable apparition. Taking a deep breath and forcing his magic to work the world twisted.

And he found himself outside Potter Manor with his breath once again knocked from his lunges like someone just sucker punched him. He just lay there on the ground for a few minutes waiting for the world to stop spinning before he picked himself back up and a flew to towards the manor.

Waiting for him at the back door to the manor was a very tired and upset looking James Potter. Harry nervously landed a few feet from his father and tried to look innocent.

"You are in deep shit, young man."

-o-

 _Page 87_

 _Ritual of the Midnight Dancer_

 _Alignment: Light_

 _Prerequisites: Four Bonfires set in the corners of a square on the night of Summer Solstice, a gathering of more than a dozen wizards or witches, and a special dance with the moves listed below, between the Bonfires._

 _Sacrifices: A small portion of magic, Instant Sacrifice._

 _Boon: The subject gets a small but noticeable permanent increase in their magic. Most effective when one is younger but worthless before the first magical maturity between the ages of 8 and 11._

 _The Ritual of the Midnight Dancer is one of the few rituals in a unique category of not needing a runic circle or saying the normal ritual incantation. It simply requires enough witches and wizards to give up a portion of their magic, non-permanently it comes back in a few hours, in order to form a connection with magic of the world. Once this occurs any magical being who dances between the fires will have a moderate increase to their magical abilities. This is most effect between the first magical maturity between the ages of 8 and 11 and the second magical maturity between the ages of 15 and 17. After that the ritual gets less and less effective as one's magical core is much less malleable. In essence one opens their core to the magic of the world and the increased flow into their core forces expansion like a muggle balloon._

 _The Ritual of the Midnight Dancer commonly called the Lithe Festival is a celebration that almost every witch and wizard participates in. Most muggleborns even participate in it at least a few times before they graduate Hogwarts. It is one of the most common celebrations along with Yule in the Wizarding World. Most witches and wizards go to the public celebration but many prefer private events with close family and friends. It is almost unheard of for a witch or wizard not to attend the Lithe Festival._

AN- Well this is another chapter. I'm trying to put the plot together so I know where the story is going and I don't get stuck. I'd love any suggestions you have for the future. Please review and let me know what you think.


	5. The Ritual of the Lord's Vassal

_From the journal of Albus Dumbledore_

 _Feb. 1905_

 _Prerequisites are a tricky thing. They can be very easy or very difficult to achieve depending on the ritual. The most important thing to know about the prerequisites is how specific they are. Some rituals might require sand and be fine with any generic sand from any beach or desert you could name. Other's might need sand from a specific desert or maybe just a certain colored sand. A ritual that requires specifically red sand, might still work but with very poor results for the subject should they use the normal brown/tan sand that is most common, or even that they needed wet sand from a beach on the night of a new moon. My point with this is that one must be careful to always find out all the prerequisites of a ritual with as much detail as possible. A ritual with close but incorrect might work to a lesser degree, not work at all, or in the worst case do something very very bad to the subject. It is well documented that werewolves are the result of a ritual done with improper prerequisites._

-o-

Waiting for him at the back door to the manor was a very tired and upset looking James Potter. Harry nervously landed a few feet from his father and tried to look innocent.

"You are in deep shit, young man." James said practically growling.

Harry couldn't respond. He tried to say something but his heart was thundering in his chest and his stomach felt like it was trying to jump out of his throat. It hadn't even been 24 hours and he was already found out. His body seemed to curl in on itself as he looked up at the furious form of his father. His father's thunderous expression seemed to light a little.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was about you?" His father asked. "I know you like to fly but leaving the wards at three in the morning is not acceptable."

Harry glanced up sharply. Flying? "Uh… Sorry?"

"Sorry? Do you have any idea how dangerous it could be for you alone outside of the wards?" James's body was tense, his eyes were squinted into a laser focus on Harry. His teeth were grit into a grimace as his fists were clenched tightly. "There are some people out there that will do some very deplorable things to hurt me for my reputation as the Knight of Light. You need to understand that they will hurt you in heart beat if that means they can enact some sort of revenge on me.

"I know dad, I'm sorry," Harry looked at the ground feeling every bit the nine year old his physical body was. "I just couldn't sleep and I thought I could fly for a bit to tire myself out. I didn't mean to worry you."

James just sighed and rubbed at his tired eyes while his whole body seemed to deflate. "I'm too tired to deal with this right now. Bed, now. If I so much as catch you with a toe outside of your room I'll stick you to your bedroom wall. Oh and you're grounded. For a month. No flying. And I'll burn all the brooms if I you even think of pulling a stunt like this again."

Harry just nodded meekly and walked back to his room. The walk back up to his room felt a hundred times longer than the one he had experienced a few hours ago. Every step seemed to bring another layer of exhaustion until he flopped onto his bed where he succumbed to sweet oblivion.

-o-

A very loud bang and Sirius's voice where the first thing to great Harry that day. "Harry! Pup, it's time to get up. I know you had a late night but it's already past 11 in the morning. Come on up you get. Get dressed, breakfast is in the kitchen, and after were going to teach you the most important spell a young wizard could possibly know." Sirius then threw the shut curtains wide open letting the blinding sunlight in.

Harry groaned and tried to roll over. It was bad enough that Sirius was so chipper in the morning but the sun streaming in only made it worse. He just wanted to sleep and he could get breakfast later. He tried to this to Sirius but it came out as a mumbled, "Uh duhn wanna, moh sleep."

If he had been more awake, Harry might have been more leery of the very suspicious silence that fell. He might have even noticed that Sirius had pulled out his wand and was silently waving in a quick pattern. He might have even been able to avoid the stream of very cold water that was headed for him. Instead Harry almost dropped back into unconsciousness before a very cold blast of water soaked him and his bed.

Harry yelped and tried to roll away from water only to roll right into the wall. He tried to block the water with his hands but that was extremely ineffect as Sirius was constantly redirecting the stream so that Harry would be thoroughly soaked. After a few moments of Sirius giddily laughing at Harry's screams, he stopped the water to enjoy view. Harry's eyes were wide open with a panicked look soaked to the bone. Water dripped from his hair onto the sheets which were tousled about, some even wrapped around Harry like a floppy, loose cocoon. Sirius's giggles turned into full blown barking laughter as looked around in a very shocked state.

Harry groaned again as he let his head bang against the wall behind him. He wormed his way out of the sheets that had gotten tangled in his struggling and stood up in his soaked pajamas on top of his bed. Giving one look to his soaked visage and the laughing man a few feet in front of him and did the only reasonable thing he could do. He jumped on Sirius. Harry managed to grapple the larger man but Sirius was still standing tall. Despite this he did everything he could to ruin Sirius's appearance from ruffling his robes and hair to rubbing his soaked hair into Sirius's face. This seemed to have the opposite effect as intended though as Sirius just laughed some more and effortlessly tossed Harry back onto the bed.

"Breakfast, downstairs, in less than ten minutes or I'm coming up here to do it again," Sirius said happily as he waved his wand at Harry and the bed. Harry felt a dry heat roll over his skin as the bed and Harry's clothes dried almost instantly. It reminded him of the feeling of leaving the cool insides of a building to the dry warm heat of the summer sun. Sirius casually walked out of the room not bother to fix his now mussled appearance. Harry quickly threw on some robes and followed him downstairs. As he walked towards the kitchens he stopped as he heard James and Sirius talking.

"You're sure it's nothing else?" James's worried voice sounded out in a hushed tone.

"He has the Heir Potter ring and that can't be faked," Sirius said somberly. "It's probably just the after effects of the Inheritance Ritual. It affects everyone differently and there have been some weird cases. My Aunt Lucretia went from a half crazed pureblood elitist to a very mild mannered witch, at least according to Grandfather Arcturus."

"I know but…" James trailed off and sighed. "The mind healer is coming at one for the standard post ritual checkup, can you keep an eye on him until then. Amelia sent me an owl practically pleading me to come help her deal with things."

"Scrimgeour at it again?"

"Yes, you know how he gets not a bad Auror just always trying to play the game."

Sirius scoffed. "Auror's don't play _the game_. Auror's do their job and try not to get killed."

"Yes, well we were trained by Moody and Scrimgeour wasn't."

Harry chose that moment to walk into the kitchen. James and Sirius were sitting around a kitchen island with mugs of tea and plates full of breakfast food. He smiled at the two adults and asked, "What are you two talking about?"

"I was telling your dad about how I woke you up this morning and he was just about to beg me to look after you while he does some work at the office." Sirius said grinning. His voice lowered into a conspiratorial whisper, "That means we can practice that charm I've been mentioning." The words were punctuated by a over exaggerated wink.

James rolled his eyes at the two before looking at Harry. "No flying, you're grounded, remember? Eat some breakfast and do as Sirius says, hopefully I'll be back in time for dinner."

"Okay dad," Harry said. He then noticed that a plate of food had appeared when he wasn't paying attention. With his stomach grumbling, Harry realized just how hungry he was as he went over to eat some of the food. With a quick mental note to get the names of the current Potter elves Harry started to dig in.

Once James had left Sirius turned to Harry and smiled. "So, why don't we go ahead and get started on the theoretical parts of the spell you'll need to know while you eat."

-o-

Apparently the greatest charm a young wizard could know was the Accio charm. It could summon books or drinks that were just out of range without having to get up with the added bonus of being able to deal with pretty much any witch or wizard below a fifth year by summoning their wand. Of course a strong grip or a shield charm would completely halt the spell and most students above 5th year learned how to passively block those types of spells, which is why the charm wasn't often used in duels. The aura flare was a technique that held a wizard's magic tightly around themselves which would block most non-aggressive spells from affecting them. The most powerful of wizards like Dumbledore or Voldemort could even block minor jinxes with their aura alone. Harry's aura flare technique was never that strong lacking the magical control Dumbledore had. And while Harry had more baseline magical power than Voldemort, after the Dark Lord's numerous rituals to increase his power he had as much magic as Harry and then quite a bit more.

Harry focused his magic again to try and summon the tennis ball Sirius had conjured. Despite his vast experience and understanding that he had acquired over the years Harry was struggling with the charm. After trying the spell a few times and getting nowhere he quickly realized what was going on. His magic which he had trained so rigorously before was practically wild and untamed in this new life. It made sense in a way, magic was like a muscle and spells were like flexing that muscle in a very specific way. Without any training a charm that was advanced as the Accio charm would be very difficult to manage. He had to use every bit of his concentration to force his magic into doing exactly what it had to do to manage the spell.

Sirius spent most of the time doing minor corrections, while being very encouraging. He was even more pleased when Harry had managed to make the tennis ball jump off the table before it flew three feet and bounced the rest of the way to Harry. Harry however was thoroughly frustrated at the state of his magic. The reason Hogwarts started with magic like the Levitation Charm was so that students practiced pushing their magic out in a controlled way without having to worry about visualizing anything. Harry currently had to visualized the ball coming to him while also forcing his magic outside of his core which it was not used to. It was very much like patting one's head and while rubbing one's belly with the added difficulty of running. And in this case he had only just started learning how to walk.

Fortunately for Harry's rising frustration levels the mind healer arrived via floo. The healer was an older gentleman with short black hair dusted with startings of grey. He held himself in a rigidly polite manner, but wore a genial smile on his handsome face. He was currently wearing a large travel robe that was opened to reveal the standard St. Mungo's healer robes, which seemed to be well maintained and in excellent condition. The man bowed slightly to Sirius and his sharp eyes quickly locked onto Harry.

"Greetings Heir Potter, I am Healer Welius Atmor. You may call me Healer Atmor while you are under my care." His voice was a soft deep baritone that had a very calm tone to it. "As I am to understand, this is just a check up after the Ritual of Inheritance that was performed yesterday?"

"That is correct," Sirius said. "As Harry's Godfather, and with permission from Lord Potter I will be acting as Harry's Guardian for the duration of the checkup or until Lord Potter. I believe the paperwork for that should be in his file."

Healer Atmor nodded briefly before pulling his travel robe to the side and lifting out a file with many pieces of parchment inside. Flipping it open and looking over a few before pulling one out. "Ah, yes, here it is. Lord Sirius Black to act as Ad Hoc Parentium should Lord James Potter not be able to be present. Very well, is there a den or study we could retire to for the duration of the check that is comfortable for everyone?"

Sirius nodded and waved them on with a, "Right this way, please."

Healer Atmor followed Sirius to the second floor where Harry knew there was a reasonably sized den. Harry was nervous and for good reason. Mind healers like the name suggested helped to heal the mind but to do so they actually had to go into the mind of their subject. He wasn't sure what Healer Atmor would find in his mind, but Harry was pretty sure whatever it was wasn't going to be good.

By the time they reached the rather comfortable den, Harry had worked himself into a nervous tizzy. His mind was racing to try to find an excuse to get out of having his mind looked at. After all having someone else, let alone a stranger, know his secret of being from a slightly alter future would not be good by any stretch of the imagination. Harry was directed to lay down on a very soft couch that was positioned between two large armchairs all of which were angled to look at a small fireplace. There was a small coffee table between them and the walls were decorated with bookshelves and various paintings of the non-moving variety. Harry laid down on the couch and mentally prepared himself for the worst.

"Now I want you to know that as a healer nothing I find in your mind will be disclosed to anyone else," Healer Atmor said in what was supposed to be a comforting tone. Harry didn't find much comfort in it. "I may accidentally see something embarrassing or painful but please try to relax through it. I will do my best to quickly move past anything irrelevant to your mental health but the more your mind fights the more difficult it will be to quickly and painlessly completely the evaluation."

Sirius was sitting in the large armchair next to Harry's head silently watching. His wore a slight grin on face as he looked at Harry but his eyes were sharp as he carefully observed the proceedings. Harry had to wonder what he would do if he found out that his Harry was no longer in possession of this body and instead it was a man twenty years older than him. Healer Atmor's hand lightly rested on Harry's shin and Harry's heart beat started to thunder in his ears.

"Please try to relax Heir Potter," the healer said right before Harry lost himself to a blur of sights and sounds.

The world seemed to spin and multiply like a kaleidoscope before many different visions all trying to overcome each other reached his focus. Most of them were blurs of sights and sounds going to quickly to comprehend. A broom unwrapped at a table. A smile from James face. Sirius laughing as he choked on food. Other memories had more time to digest. A grey morning in a dull colored field surrounded by tombstones, one in particular in front of him with white lilies saying "Here lies Lily Potter, Beloved Wife and Mother". A rainy day filled with storm clouds through a window as a very young Neville Longbottom talks with him. On and on they went each one never staying long enough for him to comprehend before he suddenly found himself staring at the ceiling of the comfortable little den he was lying in.

"Harry," Sirius's voice was full of concern as he looked Harry over. "Are you alright?"

"He is quite not alright, Lord Black," Healer Atmor's calm voice was now stern and disapproving. His gaze slipped down to Harry and a frown marred his face. Harry felt as though the couch had fell out from under him as his stomach dropped.

"I can explain," Harry blurted out desperately.

"No need for that. Lord Black, would you like the good news or the bad news first?"

-o-

 _Page 59_

 _Ritual of the Lord's Vassal_

 _Alignment: Light_

 _Prerequisites: Blood oaths (see below), a willing Lord, a willing subject to become Vassal, the Lord and to be Vassel mixing blood_

 _Sacrifices: The Vassal give up some freedom, while the Lord gives up some power._

 _Boon: The two subjects become Lord and Vassal, with all the political ramifications that entails. The Vassal is compelled to follow the Lord's orders and give to the Lord his services. The Lord is compelled to protect the Vassal and gives some power to them._

 _The Ritual of the Lord's Vassal is an older ritual that was done so that the Ancient and Noble Families could help protect their allies while not worrying about betrayal. Vassals cannot purposefully harm their new Lord and Lords must protect a Vassal. The more Vassals a Lord has the more magic he loses for each subsequent Vassal. It is believed that Dark Lords of the past have used a bastardized version of this ritual to acquire Vassals without actually give up power or protection in a similar dark ritual._

 _Last Edited: Jul. 1957_

AN- Another week another chapter. I'm trying to figure out how I want this story to go. I plan on having a few more chapter and then ship Harry off to Hogwarts.

Anyone that would like to see a specific ship please leave a review to let me know. Also as I still have a only a very rough plan of how I want things to go please feel free to add your own suggestions. If I like it I'll probably implement it into my plans.

As always I'm still looking for a beta reader so please let me know if you're interested.


	6. The Ritual of Honeyed Words

F _rom the journal of Albus Dumbledore_

 _Oct. 1979_

 _The mind is a mysterious thing. It is a physical thing and yet it is not. Muggle scientists have shown that our memories are just electrical impulses that zip around our brains in certain patterns creating what we think of as memories. That is correct but it is not the entire picture. In our souls exists many things but most importantly is our core of personality and our memories. The core of personality is who we are as an individual. Take someone's soul and put it in a construct and the person will still be same. Our memories are much the same, in that they exist at least partially within our soul._

 _Harry I believe the way the Ritual of Second Life works is that it takes a soul, your soul, and send it back through time. Of course a soul needs something to keep it together least the Void claim it, so the ritual cocoons the soul in magic. It is this magic that causes the ripples throughout time that make the world seem so different. Such a large burst of magic traveling through time causes distortions. Spells fluctuate slightly, divinations change slightly, even wizards and witches make different choices because their magic fluctuates due to the distortions. A person might even be born a different gender because the magic affecting a pregnant woman affects them differently. These small changes can easily add up to something big. Fortunately it is not without limit. The magic guiding your soul can not travel to when your soul was not, that is to say cannot affect a time before you were born. The distortions might travel back further but my calculations estimate that the magics couldn't affect anything more than six months before your birth._

-o-

"I can explain," Harry blurted out desperately.

"No need for that. Lord Black, would you like the good news or the bad news first?" Healer Atmor asked. "No, never mind bad news first, the good new won't make much sense otherwise."

"Healer Atmor," Harry started, but he was cut off by Sirius's stern voice.

"Quiet, Harry."

"Lord Black, Heir Potter is currently suffering from a rare and serious mental condition," Atmor's voice was somber but held a hard edge to it. "His mind has recently received a large shock, most likely due to the Ritual of Inheritance. The best way to put it is that it is fractured."

"Fractured?" Sirius asked his voice filled with worry. "What does that mean? Will he be alright?"

"Lord Black, I assure you there is no need to panic. Heir Potter can and should make a full recovery." Sirius seemed to relax slightly at the words. He took a deep breath to compose himself before nodding for the healer to continue. "Currently, Heir Potter's mind has been damaged. The most serious issue at the moment is that his memories, all of them from before the ritual have been damaged. His basic knowledge is mostly intact but I would be surprised if he could remember more than a handful of memories from before. What this means is that he could most likely tell you the names of people he's met before but not where he's met them. He could also tell you his opinion of them, whether they are kind or degrading, or any number of traits he would normally know just not why he knows that about that someone."

Sirius glanced at Harry looking thoughtful. "That would explain certain behaviors recently."

"Indeed, now as far as his personality goes you might see some sudden differences, but please do not be alarmed. The good news is that the core of his persona and his soul are within the normal range expected of a nine year old. Also with some Occlumency training his memories from before should recover but they will probably have details missing. You should consult your solicitor before hand but I believe as Heir to a Noble and Ancient House, Heir Potter has legal right to Occlumency. Please be sure to use Hubert's Building Method and not Angliar's Attack Method. Not only is Angliar's borderline illegal in this case you will probably damage his mind more perhaps even permanently break it before the subconscious can develop an aversion to mental intrusion."

Sirius seemed be following but Harry just looked confused by what the healer was saying. Did this mean he wasn't exposed as a time traveling reality hopping wizard? It certainly felt like he had gotten away with it… again. The two adults in the room talked more about specifics for what seemed like hours. Things like the how Harry's mind could have received the damage in the first place to the potions he should be drinking to help facilitate his mind healing. Harry couldn't help but wonder what his little jump in time had done to his mind. Inserting a 50 years of experiences into that of nine year old mind must have done some major negative effects on a mind. He hadn't thought about it before but he shuddered at the thought of trying to organize his mind, it probably looked like a Picasso in there.

"Yes, Lord Black, I am bound by my oaths not to share anything I have learned here today," Atmor's almost insulted tone broke Harry from his musings. "I will also be back in two weeks time to assess how the healing process has gone and make further adjustments to Heir Potter's regime. Now if you will excuse me I must be going to my next appointment."

Healer Atmor stood up writing a quick note which he handed to Sirius. "Please go to St. Mungo's within the next few days to pick up the required potions. One of each every day after breakfast." He paused before looking down at Harry. "I'd also suggest eating something sweet after to deal with the after taste."

Sirius hopped up and thanked the man before escorting him back downstairs. Harry feeling restless started to pace the floor. He had lucked out in that Healer Atmor didn't seem to have known about his adult mind or the years of memories from his past life. It disturbed him, though, that he might have done serious damage to his own mind. Now he had to learn Occlumency, and eventually someone was going to have to test his defences. He just hoped he didn't give his secret away. When Sirius got back he looked at Harry and grimaced. He settled down in a chair and motioned for Harry to do the same.

"Let's talk shall we?" Sirius settled down for a moment before continuing. "There are many ways that a witch or wizard can great Occlumency shields. The two most common are the Hubert's Building Method and the Angliar's Attack Method. Angliar's is much faster and involves someone repeatedly attacking the person's mind so that the subconscious builds an automatic attack response. It's very effect but very painful and damaging to one's mind to do."

Harry grimaced as it was explained to him. That sounded an awful lot like the method Snape used to build his Occlumency shields. It was a very unpleasant process to say the least and he really didn't want to have to go through that again.

"Fortunately, the healer said that we are not allowed to use that method so it's not even an option. The second one takes years of practice and involves clearing one's mind before falling into one's mindscape. After that they organize their thoughts while building defences and walls in and around their mind." Sirius pulled out a rather plain book and tapped the dark brown cover. "This is _The Art of the Mind: Defence of the Unknowable_ , it's a guide to building and keep Occlumency walls around your mind. You'll need to read the first few chapters and start organizing your mind. Once your mind is starting to get organized come talk to me and we will work on making sure no one can use your organized mind against you."

"Any questions so far?" Harry just shook his head. He had a feeling this was going to be a pain in the neck. "Alright, let's get started then."

-o-

Harry sat in his room quietly meditating. It was around six o'clock and James was due back soon. Sirius had said he was going to go check up on him and figure out what was taking so long. So, Harry had decided to use this opportunity to try to get to his mindscape. He had managed to first dip into his mindscape when he was in his late twenties. Since then he had organized his thoughts and memories of his old life but as with his magic Harry was finding himself struggling with his control.

When he finally managed to slip deeper into his trance he found himself falling into his mind and all of a sudden he was in front of Potter Manor. Only this Potter Manor was in shambles. There were large cracks running up and down the walls. Bits of the roof had crumbled off and fallen to the ground. Windows were broken and the vegetation grew over everything. One of the solid oak doors that acted as the main entrance was off it's hinges and the stone path leading up to the doors had potholes and large rocks strewn about. Harry took a deep breath and forced his will upon the stone path. Forcing rocks to fill the holes and the excess rubble to disappear. For a moment the path started to repair itself and even looked pristine, but then a great rumble shook through his mind and a giant crack appeared from the base of manor. The crack streaked down the path causing stones to fly and the path jut up in places. As soon as it had started the rumbling stopped but the giant crack remained. Harry frowned and looked towards where the crack had started at the heart of the manor.

He walked down the ruined path and into the Manor. One of the staircases leading to the second floor was nothing more than a pile of rubble and the Potter Crest on the main floor was faded and missing pieces. He kept going towards the interior of the house where the heart of it all was on the second floor. On the second floor there was a wooden door that was completely untouched. Around the door cracks spread from every direction out to the rest of the house. Light seemed to pulse from the door down the cracks and out towards the rest of the house. Harry took a moment to compose himself then opened the door.

As he opened the door light flooded the hallway blinding him for a moment before it faded to a more reasonable level. The room which used to contain his office was filled with bookcases each one overflowing with tomes, the books themselves were flying around like birds, and in the center was a large runic array written in chalk. Each one running into walls and other books as they struggled to get onto the bookshelves. Books would wiggle their way onto a shelf only to knock another book off which would fly around wildly before trying to get back onto a different shelf. Harry grimaced as he fought his way into the center of the room. Each time a book collided with him an unwanted memory of his past life would flood his mind. Each step was a struggle as books would hit him and shove him around before he'd get a sudden vision of a memory long past.

After struggling against countless books, Harry finally made it to the middle of the room where the runic array lay. It pulsed as he entered and the books stilled, some of them even dropping out of air to land with a heavy thud on the floor. Harry gathered his magic and his will until it felt ready to burst and then forced the room to expand. The walls of the office slowly pushed outwards in every direction and even the ceiling start rise. The bookcases stretched along the walls and more rows were added as the ceiling kept going up. The momentarily still books starting flying into place as the room expanded and made more area available. After pushing the walls further and further Harry felt himself run out of energy and eventually collapsed. What was once an office now resembled more of a library as the bookshelves reached floor to ceiling and a walkway was added around the entire room creating a pseudo second floor. The books flew around before finally settling down on the newly expanded bookshelves.

Harry smiled before turning towards the door. That should fix the mental block stopping him from fixing his mind. Now he just had to go around cleaning everything.

-o-

Harry quickly exhausted himself in his mindscape as he tried to fix as much as he could. He had made some good progress but it wasn't nearly as fast as he would have liked. Coming out of his trance slowly he felt the mental fatigue of all his work wash over him trying to pull him into unconsciousness like a particularly strong undertow. Checking the time Harry realized it was half past seven in the evening. A slight grumble from his stomach was all that motivated him to go downstairs and not pass out in the comfy bed in his room.

As he ambled down the stairs into the kitchen conversation drifted out to greet him. He couldn't quite make out the words but there were multiple people talking amicably over the sounds of utensils hitting dinner plates. As Harry entered the kitchen the conversation stopped. Sitting around the small table was James, Sirius, and Bellatrix all of which were giving him worried looks. Bellatrix was the first to react as she stood up and quickly embraced him.

"You should have told you were having memory problems dear," Bellatrix said, like a devoted mother. Harry was still uncomfortable thinking of Bellatrix as a devoted anything except devoted evil minion, let alone a devoted mother figure. "You must have been so confused and scared."

"I'm sorry," Harry mumbled quietly. He wasn't really that sorry about it, more sorry he got caught but it's the thought that counts right? His mind felt like it did a barrel roll forcing him to lean into Bellatrix more to avoid falling over. All the mental exherstion from fixing his mind must have been much greater than he had originally thought if it was causing him this many issues.

"Come, sit down and eat some food," James said patting the chair beside him. He wore a weary smile on his face and looked as though he had just been through the longest day of his life. Harry nodded, stepping away from Bellatrix to sit down only to stumble slightly over his own feet. James immediately stood up and caught him mid stumble with reflexes that put Harry's Quidditch trained reflexes to shame. "Woah, easy there. Are you alright Harry?"

"Yeah just a little stumble," Harry tried to reply confidently but he was pretty sure that it came out more weary than anything else. James didn't look too convinced.

"Sirius said you were working on fixing your mindscape's damage," James said more as a statement than a question. Harry nodded as he started eating the food that had appeared on his plate at some point. Magically appearing food… That was supposed to remind him to do something. Something on his list of things to do, but he couldn't for the life of him remember what that was. "It looks like you overdid it Harry. Too much work on your mindscape can leave you like this. You're practically zombified."

The humour of James's joke fell flat for everyone at the table. Harry kept steadily eating in a very mechanical way. The three other occupants talked a little but for the most part the rest of the meal was done in silence. Harry knew this would become an issue later on but he couldn't bring himself to really care at the moment. After finishing his plate he politely excused himself before heading off to bed.

Harry's last thought before falling asleep in bed was; How am I ever going to deal with those three for over a year without them realizing I'm 50 years old?

-o-

 _Page 97_

 _Ritual of Honeyed Words_

 _Alignment: Light_

 _Prerequisites: Three jars of fresh honey, A runic circle (see below), pixie dust, and one living queen bee_

 _Sacrifices: The ability to taste sour_

 _Boon: The subject's words will be taken in the best possible way, the effects can be mitigated by a listener with strong willpower, mental defences, or strong dislike of the subject_

 _The Ritual of Honeyed Words would be a fairly common ritual among politicians if it was more widely known. People tend to like and what to listen to others who have gone through with this ritual. It gives one an unexplainable charisma that draws people in. Most other sources that have the ritual do not have the improved version listed above. For best effect write the ritual with the honey made from the same hive as the queen bee you have obtained. Dip the stinger of the queen in the honey sprinkle it with the pixie dust then prick the tip of your tongue with the stinger. I find that it is best incant the ritual first and then sting your tongue as tongues have the tendency to swell up after bee stings._

 _Last Edited: May, 1948_

AN- So I'm barely going to miss my Friday deadline. I apologize to those of you who were waiting for it but my power went out so I couldn't post for quite a while. I'll try to be more prepared in the future.

As always please leave a review of anything you'd like to see in the future, be it pairings or a cool ritual you thought up.


	7. The Ritual of the Unseen Shown

_From the journal of Albus Dumbledore_

 _May, 1905_

 _Sacrifice. Sacrifice is a terrifying word to everyone who's lived through turbulent times but it is especially frightening to those who practice rituals. And for good reason. The moment you start on your journey through the magics of rituals you must be especially careful about Sacrifices. Most witches and wizards Sacrifice very little in the most common rituals. This is a deadly trap. For once one becomes too familiar with the small Sacrifices, once one doesn't take the utmost care when dealing with Sacrifice that is when a Sacrifice will come along and take its pound of flesh from your very bones._

 _I may sound dramatic but as someone who has managed to 'get burned' as it were and survive I have learned that it is much better to be paranoid and scared than overly confident and punished for it. Most witches and wizards will see a sacrifice and not understand what they are giving up or will unintentionally give up something very important to themselves. Sometimes it is someone. So please I beg of you do not be hasty. Keep track of every sacrifice you make watch them carefully and think how every new sacrifice you add will effect the ones you already have._

 _Last Edited: Aug. 1995_

-o-

It had been a little over a month since Harry had arrived at this new timeline. After the first day and half had gone by Harry had managed to finally get a decent schedule down and avoided too much scrutiny. He was careful to never make any big mistakes, but small accidents do happen. Fortunately every time he said something that was wrong, like how the Chudley Cannons were on a bad streak, he only to get confused looks and not the suspicious ones he was expecting.

Harry had spent most of the time until his birthday fixing his mindscape, practicing magic, or spending time with his 'new' family. It was strange having his father and godfather around. Stranger still having an actual mother figure that used to spend most her time trying to kill him. Aunt Bella, as he was forced to call her, took time for Harry to finally accept as an actual person he wanted in his life, but it helped that she looked and acted nothing like the former Bellatrix Lestrange. It was very difficult to recognize the young energetic and caring woman to the crazed and ragged one from his memories. His father and Sirius both were much easier to adapt to in comparison. Sirius was much more lively than he remembered, most likely due to never being in Azkaban, and his father was very caring when he was actually home. Apparently the Knight of Light was high demand by the Ministry.

Harry honestly didn't mind that much and in fact was kind of grateful for it. He was given a large amount of independence which meant more time fixing his mind and getting his magic under control. Fixing his mind was taking much longer than he had initially thought it would. It had only taken a few days of hard work to fix everything in his mind. Days were he would spend more time in his mindscape than out of it. However, after taking two days off from entering his mind he came back to find that it had degraded rapidly. While not nearly as bad as it had be before many of the large cracks had come back and many of the books needed to be organized as they had flown off or even just threw themselves into a giant pile of mishmash. Everytime he fixed his mind it seemed to stay fixed for a little longer but it was still getting very tiresome to do every day.

Unlike the frustrations of his mindscape his spellwork had improved by leaps and bounds. It had only taken him a week to get the Summoning Charm down which had impressed everyone in his little family greatly. Secretly Harry knew it was mostly due to his familiarity with the spell itself. Afterwards Sirius ended up teaching him quite a few other spells including the Jelly-Legs Jinx and the Tripping Jinx although those spells took longer for Harry to complete as he wasn't nearly as familiar with them. On his own he had managed to relearn most of the first year spells he could remember and was practicing casting silently. Silent spell casting was one of the most useful things to learn and after 30 odd years of practice he had gotten rather good at it. In fact before he had come back he rarely actually bother with a spell incantation preferring silent casting. Sure it made a spell take twice or sometimes three times as long to learn but being able to simply snap his wrist through a few wand movements made spell casting much faster. It also didn't hurt that it was damn impressive to everyone else. He had made it a game to never speak an incantation in public and was on a eight year long streak before he completed the ritual.

Of course wandless spells were what Harry really wanted to learn. He hadn't quite cracked the mystery to that yet but he had been working on it. Ironically enough he had made more progress after coming back in time. Harry couldn't quite call it wandless spells as it was more like highly controlled accidental magic. Sure Harry could manipulate magic without a wand but that wasn't really spell casting. In order to have what he considered wandless spell casting it would take the consistent application of a magical effect. Harry could cause his magic to semi-reliably do something but it was never the same thing twice.

Harry pulled himself from his mindscape and stretched. The sun was clearly shining into his window and the clock on his wall stated that it was currently slightly past eight in the morning. Twisting this way and that to get the kinks out of his spine he yawned before rubbing his eyes. Taking a moment to motivate himself to actually get out of bed he sighed before walking to the bathroom. This had been his morning routine for quite a while now, wake up early in the morning, fix his mindscape, before getting ready for the day and heading downstairs to get breakfast. He monotonously brushed his teeth and threw on some robes.

Breakfast started off quiet but quickly became the rowdy affair it always seemed to dive into and this morning was no different. Sirius and James entered in a half dead trance sipping tea and eating some eggs. When they both had enough caffeine in them they started off talking about work but quickly escalated to poking fun at each other which broke down into an all out war once James suggested that Padfoot had enthusiastically gotten involved with a dog next door in heat. Harry simply ate his food and dodged the stray flying eggs and sausages while waiting for Aunt Bella to arrive.

The sound of the floo activating was like an alarm going off and both men stopped what they were doing. Sirius, who was mid swing with a scone, aborted his throw and starting vanishing the mess around the kitchen. Harry watched the buttered and jellied scone slip through Sirius's fingers and fly through the air towards James who was also busy fixing everything in the kitchen, his wand zipping through the air like a sugar high pixie. Footsteps could now be heard coming from the main hall but the only noise from kitchen was a soft squish as the scone landed on James's chest butter and jelly side down.

The two men stared at the scone before looking back at each other. Sirius snorted trying to hold in a laugh. James simply glared, vanished the scone, and picked up the nearby newspaper and opened it to read the front with a single hand. There was a brief flash of light from under the table and Sirius flinched upright for a moment. Sirius picked up the other newspaper before sticking his wand under the table and this time when the light appeared James was the one that flinched.

"Good morning boys," Aunt Bella said as she walked into the kitchen. She smiled at them all before turning to the clock. "Shouldn't you both be leaving soon? If you are going to be back in time for the party you'll need to leave soon."

A few more flashes of light occurred under the table while Bella was turned towards the clock. James's rob had lightened to a rosy pink while Sirius was now wearing heavy blush and eyeshadow. The two hadn't even looked away from their papers. Bella only raised an eyebrow at Sirius when he finally turned towards her. "I'm only going in for an hour or two to finish one last report. He's the one that's got a pile of paperwork the size of troll." Sirius said pointing at James with his newspaper.

James smiled widely. "What can I say I come in high demand. Unlike others."

"I prefer the demand of a the more feminine nature," Sirius said wiggling his eyebrows. "And I can assure you that I am up to my chest in it."

Bella slapped Sirius's arm and gave him a flat look. "Down boy. Not at the table." When food appeared at her spot, Bella went to start eating but paused. "By the way I saw a flash of light. You two wouldn't happen to have been using spells at the table would you? You know how much I dislike wands at the table. It's very rude."

"No," Sirius said sounding outraged by the very idea. "We would never use our wands at the table."

Bellatrix just gave Sirius a long look. "Then why are you wearing makeup?"

"Sirius just wanted to try to understand why witches go through so much trouble applying makeup on everyday," James said innocently. "Isn't that right?"

"I feel pretty, Bella. Do I look pretty?" Sirius batted his eyelashes at her shyly.

Bella rolled her eyes before looking at James. "And the robes?"

"Lily always did like him in lighter colors," Sirius said.

James looked off wistfully for moment. "That she did. Never did like how much Auror robes looked like blood."

The two men looked at each other before they both stood up and walked to either side of where Bella was sitting. "You were right though we really must be going." James said with a disarming smile. Sirius's hand blurred out and nicked some of the bacon on her plate.

"Quite right, we really need to be off." Sirius said drawing Bella's attention to him. James's hand was the one to blur out this time stealing a buttered scone.

"We will see you later today," James said a small flash appearing behind all of their backs while Bella turned back towards him still in her seat. Sirius was now wearing lipstick to complement his eye shadow and blush.

"Bye Bella," Sirius said pulling her into a quick hug. Another flash of light and this time James's robes had sparkling rainbows.

Both of the Aurors turned towards Harry who was smiling at the duo. James's smiled back at him and said, "Bye Harry, we'll see you later today. Oh and happy birthday."  
"Yeah, happy birthday, Harry." Sirius echoed as they walked off.

Bella huffed at the two as they walked out of the room and a few more flashes of light briefly appeared. "Those two are so immature. I'm so glad you have much better manners than them. Merlin only knows how you survived growing up with them yet ending up so mature."

Harry only smiled wider at her. Having a front row seat to their shenanigans helped but he knew better than to say that out loud.

-o-

Harry looked at himself in the mirror and ran his hands over the nice dress robe he was wearing for the fourth or fifth time. He was nervous. Very nervous. This would be the first time since Lithe that he had been near someone his age and more importantly the first time he would see some of his very good friends. The Longbottoms, Weasleys, and the Lovegoods were all coming. Neville was probably the best friend anyone could ask for and he was worried about how different he would be in this new timeline. Both Alice and Frank Longbottom managed to make mostly full recoveries from their time under the Cruciatus Curse. While Frank had been under the curse for longer Alice had a particularly bad reaction to the curse and would still have moments when her hand would spasm. Sirius and James always looked remorseful the few times the subject had been brought up.

The Lovegoods of course Harry had already met except for Pandora Lovegood. He was still trying to figure out when the spell creation accident was going to occur so he could stop it. Luna had taken just a bad turn after her mother had died and while he liked the girl from his memories she had become a much more stable person after she had married Rolf Scamander. Harry was adamant about not letting Luna go through the strife of finding her dead mother again.

Lastly the Weasleys were a bit of a spot of contention for him. His and Ron's relationship had always been tumultuous especially in the early years. Later in life Ron had matured quite a bit and even apologized for his youthful behaviour one night when they were out at a pub. That being said he wasn't sure he was prepared for the years of strife needed to build up that relationship again. It hadn't exactly been pleasant the first and he had even less patience now for that kind of behavior after being subjected to it for years by the Wizarding World at large.

Ginny, though, Ginny was was going to be rough. They hadn't managed to stay together. He had thought she had gotten over his being a famous celebrity but after spending a few years in a long distance relationship due to their jobs she had relapsed badly. Harry ended up breaking it off do to the stress of a long distance relationship and the insecurity she developed about them. Harry didn't blame her for her behavior but he couldn't deal with her suspicious nature all the time. It ended up working out for her though because she hooked up with some English Quidditch star and the two got married. This time though he wasn't The-Boy-Who-Lived but the whole situation still felt peculiar to him.

"Oh for the love of Merlin, your robes are straight." The mirror in front of him said breaking him out of his thoughts. "But I certainly can't say the same about your hair. You should probably work on that."

Harry rolled his eyes ran a hand through his hair knowing it wouldn't help the situation at all and started to head downstairs to greet the guests as they arrived. His formal robes were a crimson red with gold trim matching the Potter Family Crest. Sirius and James were both already waiting for the guests to arrive with Bella as they all talked quietly. Harry made his way downstairs and stood by his father while looking anxiously at the clock. It was five minutes to one o'clock and the guests would be arriving at any moment now.

James must have noticed his nervousness because he patted Harry on the shoulder softly. "Hey just remember Sirius, Bella, and I are all going to be nearby if you get confused or can't remember something just signal to us and we'll come if you need it."

"Do they know about…" Harry trailed off. He didn't like be treated like a piece of fragile glass work but in this case he was more than happy to take the offered support.

"No, not unless you want to tell them. All they know is that recently you had a bit of an accident and needed a mind healer to help patch you up."

The fire turned green and roared to life signalling someone was coming through. Harry put a smile on his face and tried his best to get his turbulent emotions in check. He was going to finally see his friends after a month and hopefully start their friendship up again. Taking a deep breath the fire whirled and whooshed as someone came stepping out of the green fire. Harry closed his eyes exhaled and whispered to himself.

"Game time."

-o-

 _Page 231_

 _Ritual of the Unseen Shown_

 _Alignment: Light_

 _Prerequisites: Runic circle as shown below, on a date of magical importance, various elements from the intended summons natural habitat, the more the better._

 _Sacrifices: Blood of a creature that is magically as strong as the intended summoned creature used to write the intended summons name, Instant Sacrifice. An offering of food that the summoned creature would normally eat, Instant Sacrifice._

 _Boon: Summons a member of the species named._

 _The Ritual of the Unseen Shown is a dangerous ritual not because the ritual itself can go wrong but because if one is not careful they may summon something other than intended. The more ties one has of the identified creature the more likely a member of that species will be summoned. However it is while unlikely not uncommon for a person to accidentally summon a predator of the summoned creature instead of the creature itself. Because predator and prey share the same environments and while writing a creature's name in blood identifies it, it also denotes maliciousness and thus it identifies its predator as well. It is for these reasons that the ritual has been classified under advanced magical rituals and was restricted by the Ministry after a wizard accidentally summoned a Ukrainian Ironbelly dragon in 1854 that almost burnt down Cardiff._

The chapter was a little shorter than I had originally intended but then I realized where I wanted to end up would have made this chapter about 5k instead of my usual goal of 3k words. So I decided to do so foreshadowing and leave the other two scenes I originally planned for next week.

As always please leave a review with any opinions you have or pairings you'd like to see.


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